-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The girl the Taliban wanted dead has not only survived but was able to walk out of the hospital last week . But other highly publicized , vicious attacks on women and girls have not had such triumphant outcomes .

Malala Yousafzai 's ordeal is not over yet : Doctors say the 15-year-old campaigner for girls ' education , whom gunmen shot in the head as she rode a school bus in Pakistan , will be readmitted in late January or early February for more cranial reconstructive surgery .

She left the hospital just days after gunmen attacked a van in Pakistan 's Swabi District , less than an hour from the capital , and killed six women and one man who worked at a children 's community center . Five of the dead were teachers ; two were health care workers . The center , a charity , offered a school for girls and vaccinations for polio , among other diseases , along with maternal health treatment .

Yet another attack unfolded around the time of Malala 's release . India is reeling from the death of a woman who dreamed of becoming a doctor . Brutally gang raped , mutilated and thrown from a bus , the physiotherapy student later died in a Singapore hospital . Her name was not made public in India , but her cause electrified the nation . Her father , who sold family land to move his family to Delhi from rural India to help his daughter realize her education dreams , is left heartbroken .

`` She wanted to be a doctor and said it was only a matter of a few years and that when she was a doctor -LRB- all our suffering -RRB- , it will end , ' '' her father told the BBC . `` I remember asking her once , ` Who are all your friends ? ' She replied , ` Dad , it 's only my books I am friends with . ' ''

What all of these attacks have in common , along with their brutality , is that they are attempts at extinguishing the talent and potential of women -- or half of the population . In a world that needs every doctor it can find , every educator and politician who is willing to tackle the status quo , these young women offered a glimpse at a brighter future in which all can contribute .

No less than investment oracle Warren Buffett made that very case recently , referring to the United States , which has seen its share of less brutal attempts to hold women back .

`` What a waste of human talent ; 50 % of the talent of the country we pushed off in a corner for almost 200 years , '' he said in an interview with Melinda Gates . `` It is one of the things that makes me optimistic about the future -- we are getting to the point we are starting to realize we need to use 100 % of our talent -- it makes me very optimistic , but we still have a way to go . ''

His words echoed those of the World Economic Forum in its annual Gender Gap Report .

`` The key for the future of any country and any institution is the capability to develop , retain and attract the best talent , '' the report said . `` Empowering and educating girls and women and leveraging their talent and leadership fully in the global economy , politics and society are thus fundamental elements of succeeding and prospering in an ever more competitive world . ''

Until now these horrific attacks on women and girls , attacks I have written about concerning Afghanistan , have been seen as shameful and isolated incidents . But they are a shared loss in a globalized world .

These young women and their legacies -- Malala , who will continue her fight , and the others , who will not -- are on the front lines of deciding what our world looks like . Will young women who speak out on the need for education be stopped or celebrated ? Will girls who dream of becoming doctors stay alive long enough to do so ? And when will we realize that their battle is one shared by everyone who dreams of a safer , more stable , more prosperous world in which more people have a stake ? Perhaps Buffett 's words will help enlist more fighters in the cause . Because the economic and human rights stakes are high .

Increasingly the world is recognizing the value and the contributions of girls and women . But progress is slow while violence is tolerated . And as the attacks in Pakistan show , educating girls remains a potentially deadly line of work .

`` They wanted to kill her , '' said her father not long after gunmen shot his daughter . `` But she fell temporarily . She will rise again . She will stand again . '' He was right .

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gayle Tzemach Lemmon .

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Gayle Lemmon : Taliban failed to stop education advocate Malala Yousafzai by shooting her

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Lemmon : Similar attacks on other women and girls trying to reach their goals were fatal

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Attacks are efforts to stamp out women 's progress , rights and potential , she says

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She says potential of half the population will not be realized if violence is tolerated